Modesto, Calif., (August 9, 2017) – As most producers are aware, FARM Version 3.0 went into effect starting this year. Your processor most likely has communicated the changes in the program, but to re-cap, the largest changes for California dairies include having a signed Veterinarian Client Patient Relationship (VCPR) agreement with your veterinarian and ensuring that all dairy employees that work with animals sign Dairy Cattle Care Ethics and Training Agreements. Specifically, each employee needs to be trained in dairy cattle stockmanship and in specific animal care protocols for their work area. These changes to FARM provide higher accountability and help document continuous on-farm improvement, strengthening the program’s ability to address supply chain customer and consumer questions regarding the many activities conducted to take good care of cows every day. Dairy producers will need to have these documents in place for their next FARM evaluation.
CDQAP can help! There are many ways for producers to provide training to employees. When it comes to handling animals, nothing beats good old- fashioned hands-on training. CDQAP has teamed up with Beef Quality Assurance to offer a “train-the-trainer” class for producers and/or their herdsman looking for assistance in developing an effective ongoing employee training program for their dairy. It’s one thing to know how to handle animals; it’s another thing to be able to effectively teach another person how to handle animals. This training course will highlight online training tools available and important adult teaching methods; provide sample training program outlines; and offer hands-on training drills in common dairy cattle handling situations. Whether you’re developing a program to review handling protocols with seasoned employees or to train new employees, it is critical that all understand the expected animal handling methods for your dairy.
CDQAP – BQA Stockmanship Training Plan Development Class
Wednesday, August 23rd – 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in Modesto (lunch to follow)
*This is a pilot class. Participants are limited to 25 dairy producers and/or herdsmen. To participate and receive dairy location info, RSVP to Eventbrite at http://bit.ly/cdqap-bqa For questions contact Denise Mullinax at (209) 585-6744 or mullinax@cdrf.org.
